That Romantic Cliche
by ashestoashesanddusttodust
Summary: There's nothing wrong with a little online flirting. Cullen hardly ever expects it to go anywhere even if he really does like the man he's been chatting with for over a month. Dorian x Cullen


**That Romantic Cliche  
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**A Word**: Request for Cullrian meeting in a chat and liking each other.

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**prfctpavus:** Do not get me started on the weather.  
**prfctpavus:** Do  
**prfctpavus:** Not  
**lion_hearted_3:** it's not that cold  
**prfctpavus:** As compared to what? The Anderfels?  
**prfctpavus:** No, do NOT make excuses.  
**prfctpavus:** This weather is ridiculous!

Cullen stifles a chuckle as he glances out the full glass walls of the University main campus building. Thick, fluffy flakes of snow flutter slowly down from the gray sky. The world outside is still and blanketed in the white snow. It's a peaceful moment. A beautiful picture to look at that will only last another hour before the snow gets churned into sludge by students walking and cars leaving. He enjoys the sight for a moment before turning back to his laptop.

Cassandra sits across of the small table from him. Intently absorbed in her own laptop. Supposedly deep in a seven page paper, but the hint of color high on her cheeks is the only sign he needs to know whatever she's reading isn't academic at all. Leliana and Josephine sit to his right. Smashed improbably in the same tiny and uncomfortable plastic chair as they watch something on Josephine's phone. One ear bud in each of their ears as they giggle almost in synch.

Given their distraction he doesn't feel as guilty as he should over ignoring his own homework to chat with Pavus. A hard thing to do as their schedules don't exactly mesh too often. Which makes the fact that they'd even met in a chat room last month all the more amazing really.

**lion_hearted_3:** it's not even an inch  
**lion_hearted_3:** your precious shoes will survive  
**prfctpavus:** They're SUEDE.  
**prfctpavus:** A gentle breeze would destroy them.  
**lion_hearted_3:** why would you wear them if they're tha bad?  
**prfctpavus:** Because they're a perfect shade of red that matches my shirt, and ten people have threatened to kill me and ritualistically eat my heart in order to gain the perfection these shoes give me.

Cullen snorts and gets a disapproving look from Cassandra. He raises an eyebrow right back at her and lets his eyes drop to her laptop. Her eyes narrow stubbornly before she dips her head in acceptance of the jab and returning to her terrible romance.

The exchange took less than a minute. Over the past year he's been rooming with the three women he and Cassandra have developed a nonverbal language that others seem to find uncanny. It suits them both though, and it helps when they often have the same conversations repeatedly. Saves them both the time to not have to repeat the same arguments out loud.

Their current argument being Cullen's reluctance to meet Pavus face to face. A logical next step to Cassandra only because she's never been burned before by the disappointment of meeting someone from online in real life. Finding out the person you were flirting with online was _five_ decades older and looked closer to a mummy than the pictures he sent might be shallow, but Cullen challenges anyone to not flat out run in that situation.

Pavus has hinted at meeting, but never pressed the issue when Cullen ignored it. He's grateful for that really, because he honestly likes the other man too much to want to ruin what they have.

**lion_hearted_3:** perfection doesn't protect you from the cold  
**prfctpavus:** Hah! So you admit it's cold!  
**lion_hearted_3:** i never said it wasn't  
**lion_hearted_3:** just that it wasn't as bad as you've been complaining

Cullen grins as Pavus neatly side steps the issue of wearing impractical clothing in the middle of winter by focusing on something else. He'll eventually complain about his ridiculous shoes again in the next hour and Cullen can needle him some more about it then.

**prfctpavus:** Well one good thing about this abysmal weather is that it gives me plenty of pretty things to look at.  
**lion_hearted_3:** it won't last  
**lion_hearted_3:** the snows already melting  
**prfctpavus:** I wasn't talking about _outside_.

Cullen hadn't really thought he was, but he imagines Pavus rolling his eyes at Cullen's deliberate denseness with a smirk. He doesn't know what Pavus does all day, but he knows the man uses the wifi from some cafe somewhere when he has the time. A cafe that's probably filled with people escaping the snow.

**lion_hearted_3:** should i be jealous?

He types the question out but doesn't feel anything of the sort. He likes Pavus and they tend to flirt when they're not complaining about life in general, but he has no delusions about having any sort of claim on a man he doesn't want to meet.

**prfctpavus:** I like you for your mind.  
**prfctpavus:** I like my eye-candy today because he has rather devastating smirk.  
**prfctpavus:** Experience has taught me not to expect more than a pretty picture though.  
**prfctpavus:** Especially not one out with his girlfriend.  
**lion_hearted_3:** why do you always pcik on the straight ones?  
**prfctpavus:** I'm a sucker for scars.  
**prfctpavus:** There's just something about a little, tasteful lip scar that makes me want to think stupid thoughts.

He can't stop the laugh at that and takes Cassandra's dirty look as his due. Tasteful lip scar. Cullen rubs his thumb over the scar on his own lip wryly. Scars aren't tasteful, especially not ones received from stupid childhood stunts.

**prfctpavus:** Hm, trouble in paradise. Maybe there's hope for me after all.  
**lion_hearted_3:** don't  
**lion_hearted_3:** you got a black eye the last time you did this  
**prfctpavus:** But there's actual hope this time!  
**prfctpavus:** I think she's going to throw a book at his head.  
**lion_hearted_3:** yokgubh

Cullen swears lowly as a book collides with his head from nowhere. The thinnest book on the table, but the spine still stings as it bounces off his forehead. "Cassandra!"

"Was that really necessary?!" Leliana exclaims and nearly dumps Josephine on the ground going after the book. It is hers after all. One of the seven dozen poetry books that she can never seem to stop buying.

"Yes," Cassandra leans back and crosses her arms over her chest. Face stubborn and not at all apologetic. "Cullen is being an idiot."

"That's no reason to abuse my books!"

"What?" Cullen startles a bit before frowning at his screen. Leliana and Cassandra's argument fading to the background as he scans the words. The ones already written and the ones that had popped up as he was cradling his head.

**prfctpavus:** Oh, that poor man.  
**prfctpavus:** That looks like it hurt.  
**prfctpavus:** I take it back. I like scars but I'm a real sucker for puppy dog looks from strapping, blonde men.  
**prfctpavus:** It might just be worth another black eye to see which way that one swings.

Cullen stares blankly at his screen. The words don't quite seem real to him, at least not the way his mind insists on them being. He looks up and over the lobby he's in towards the little Starbucks attached to the book store he's near. There's a few tables jammed in the area and the blaze of a red shirt is eye-catching.

So is the man wearing it from what Cullen can see.

Pavus has dark hair and skin that's set off by the red of his shirt. His hair is expertly styled so that it looks careless. A fashion that Pavus has gone on about at length when Cullen once complained of the work that it took to make his own hair just behave. Pavus is studiously not looking around as he sips from a large cup and keeps his fingers poised over his laptop.

Cullen's first coherent thought is that he can't see if his shoes perfectly match from where the way he's sitting.

**prfctpavus:** Are you alright? Didn't get disconnected did you?  
**lion_hearted_3:** no

He types the two letters slowly before sending them and is acutely aware of a gaze on the side of his face he wasn't aware of before.

"Oh, that looks interesting," Josephine says suddenly, and Cullen can feel the awareness of Pavus' eyes turn into the familiar burn of a flush. One that makes Josephine smirk and turn from the heated debate of... something that Cassandra and Leliana have descended to. "Is something the matter, Cullen?"

"No, yes," Cullen darts a glance over his shoulder. Pavus isn't looking. He's frowning at his laptop. It looks like genuine concern, and Cullen makes a stupid decision. "Give me just a minute."

He can see into the coffee shop from the lobby, but he has to actually walk into the bookstore to get to it. A ceiling high pane of glass keeps it separate. Cullen has enough time winding through the bookshelves to call himself fifty kinds of idiot before he's standing behind Pavus who is tapping his finger on the table impatiently. A few more lines already typed out in the chat screen that only confirms what Cullen already knows. He takes another step forward and Pavus jerks startled as Cullen ducks down enough to look under the table.

The shoes don't look like any kind of suede Cullen's seen before, but that doesn't mean all that much. They are a rather bright red. Cullen wouldn't say they made his whole outfit 'perfection' though. There's absolutely nothing practical at all about anything Pavus is wearing.

"Well, this is an interesting surprise," Pavus recovers quickly and gives him a smile as charming as any of the lines he's used in chat. It makes his eyes crinkle and draws Cullen's gaze to the dark little mole high on one cheek. "Can I help you with something? I have been told I'm rather good at tending head wounds if that is a problem."

"My head's fine. My roommates have all thrown heavier things at me before. I just had to see the ridiculously shoes that made ten people threaten to kill you."

There is something a little satisfying in watching Pavus' jaw unhinge slightly. His brown eyes go a little wide and fixed in surprise. It doesn't last long but Cullen already thinks he'll be treasuring that memory for a while.

"You," Pavus straightens up and gives him a look that's both appreciative and irritated, "are not real. You cannot convince me that you are. This kind of thing only happens in romance novels. The terrible ones!"

"I'm Cullen," he smiles because Pavus is right. This is the kind of cliche thing that would only happen in fiction. Cassandra is going to eat it right up. "Do you have a different name, or is it really Pavus?"

"It is. Dorian Pavus actually," Pavus, no, _Dorian_ says before deliberately reaching out to push the lid of his laptop closed. He pauses then, a slightly unsettled look crossing his face before smoothing out. "And who are they?"

Cullen looks up a little startled. He's been a little too focused on Dorian and hadn't noticed their audience. His roommates are standing on the other side of the glass wall. Leliana has her hands on the wall and is giving Dorian a rather terrifyingly shrewd look. The same kind of look she gives to anyone Josephine -and once or twice Cassandra- bring to the house for dates. Josephine is grinning foolishly and bouncing a little on her toes next to her. Cassandra stands on the other side of Josephine. Arms crossed tightly over her chest as her face wars between settling on a smirk or a glare.

He used to think he'd miss his siblings when he came to college. So far, he really hasn't had the chance to miss their meddling though. Not when his roommates are so eager to fill in that role for him.

"The worst roommates ever," Cullen says evenly and fixes each woman with a glare before deliberately turning away from them. "Who all have classes in the next hour. Did you want to go somewhere off campus and away from them?"

"I don't know," Dorian says with poorly hidden laughter. "They seem to have good ideas."

Cullen looks and immediately regrets it. Cassandra has a torn piece of paper plastered to the glass. The words are Josephine's loopy scrawl though. 'Get his number or she'll smother you,'

"The worst," Cullen groans and boldly reaches for the things on the small table in front of Dorian. Stacking them all neatly until Dorian laughs and holds open a satchel for him. Taking his time with fastening the thing shut before rising to his feet. Giving Cullen plenty of time to glare at the three smugly smiling women.

"So," fingers wrap around his arm and Cullen's pulled away. Dorian doesn't let go and Cullen forgets to be irritated with the other man's body so close. "Where were you thinking about taking me, Cullen?"

A good question. "You'll see," Cullen steers them to the side exit closest to the parking garage and figures he'll find someplace. Anyplace is good really as long as those three aren't nearby.

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End file.
